The Snow Maiden
by Inuyasha Phantom
Summary: A girl by the name of Hayley Winter dies saving her sister from a tree branch, only to awake with no memory of her past. Only knowing that her name is Winter North, granddaughter of the one and only Santa Clause. But when a certain Frost stops her from making a deal with Pitch, who they now know to be alive, Manny sends her to find out what he is planning. But will she be swayed?
1. Chapter 1

**_Meow! I own nothing except the plot and OC ^-^_**

I stared out my window blankly at the fall world, a slight breeze passed me as my window shuttered bumped against the house quietly.

"Hayley! You promised!" I heard my little sisters voice ring out, I looked down to find her standing in the front yard waving her hands. She was all dressed up for Halloween, I quickly dawned a black mask laced with silver string, not the most original costume but I really don't care.

"I have arrived!" I said dramatically, my parent's weren't home. Hell, what am I saying? They're _NEVER_ home, I bet if I dropped dead right now they wouldn't know for another two weeks. They probably wouldn't even come to my funeral, it would probably be directed by my grandparents.

We began walking, a harsh wind passed us, followed by a cold breeze. After a while of picking up candy from strangers, which I personally think is creepy as hell.

Snow sprinkled down from the sky that seemed to cloud up and cover the full moon within seconds.

We continued to walk, I draped my purple jacket over my sisters shoulders, she slipped her small arms into it and I folded the sleeves up so she could hold her bucket. A small snowflake landed softly on my nose. I blinked a few times before following behind my sister. I seen a flash of white and looked over, there was a boy leaning up against a tree.

He wore a blue sweatshirt that seemed to be slightly frozen with an ice design on the front. His hair was completely white, showing no color at all. I looked down to see his pants where a tattered brown pair. I looked lower and noticed he didn't have any shoes and he held a long staff that rounded down at the front.

"Wait here, Katelynn." I told my sister, without looking at her I approached the boy.

"Excuse me?" I asked, reaching out to touch him.

I felt him stiffen and look up at the sound of my voice as I put my hand on his shoulder. He looked at me blankly.

"Why aren't you wearing shoes? It's snowing." I told him.

"Y-y-you can see me?" He asked, I looked at him like he was crazy, and from the looks of it he probably was.

"Yes... Why shouldn't I?" I asked him, pulling my hand away. He was ice cold.

"But I'm... But you're... Who are you?" He said, his expression changed from surprised to happy.

"My name is Hayley, Hayley Winter, and you are?" I told him, ending with a question.

"I'm Jack Frost." He said simply.

"Wait... Jack Frost? So you where named after the Spirit of Winter? That's cool!" I said, the edges of my lips pulled up to form a smile.

"Hayley!" My sister came running over, looking up at me with a smile, then over to Jack.

"Who are you talking to, you're getting weird looks. You shouldn't talk to yourself in public." She stated, putting her hands on her hips.

"I'm not talking to myself, I'm talking to Jack Frost!" I told her, looking at Jack who had averted his eyes to the ground.

I paused for a moment as her eyebrows furrowed.

"Can't you see him?" I asked her hesitantly. She shook her head, she probably thinks I'm crazy now.

"You're crazy, Hayley." Yup, my accusations where correct. I looked back up to find Jack gone, I sighed and my sister pulled on my hand. "Lets go! We need to finish this block before we go home!" She wined, I followed. There was a sudden thunder that took place as we where walking down the sidewalk. Then a sudden snow storm. I couldn't see anything. I reached out, searching for my sister.

"Katelynn!" I shouted, I felt my jacket. It was flying in the wind. I heard her voice ring out, then another gust of wind. For just a moment, the storm died down. Only long enough for me to see her then I felt my heart skip a beat.

 _SNAP_

I looked up to see a large tree cracking, the snow storm had caused snow to pile on top of the tree. The branch broke, I found myself running to my sister, shoving her a few feet away and falling in the process.

The branch fell on me and a sharp pain crashed through my body, I heard the crack of my spine shattering apart under the weight of the thick tree branch. Katelynn immediately ran to me, I knew that I didn't have very long.

"Hayley! Please! Be okay, I-I-I'll go get help! She stood up, I grabbed her arm and pulled her to me.

"Katelynn look at me..." I spoke, blood dripped down my chin and my world was getting hazy. I knew I was about to die.

She looked at me and I seen the tears pouring down her face, fear in her eyes. I could've sworn I seen a dark figure in the distance, but the storm has yet to die down so it was probably my imagination.

"Katelynn, you're going to grow up to be a wonderful woman..." I coughed up more blood. "But you'll be here to see that!" Katelynn wailed.

I placed my hand softly on her face, my world continued to darken.

"Katelynn... I won't... But I swear I'll watch over you every step of the way..." I told her, smiling a bit. She began to sob, I put my hand under her chin, I felt a sharp pain in my arm and heard it crack. But I did my best to keep my composure, though I still let out a small groan. I raised her head up so she could look me in the eyes.

"Look at me... I-I-I need you to do me one last favor..." I told her, tears where still streaming down her face, I wanted to cry so badly as I watched.

"I need you to grow up for the both of us... Promise me that you'll be both Kind and Forgiving... Promise that you will not take your life for granted..." I told her, the darkness sinking in faster, I had only seconds left. I heard her voice one last time.

"I-I promise... A-And... I f-forgive you for l-leaving me... And... I-I thank you for s-saving me..." She told me with a shaking voice. I smiled, then I felt myself drift away.

Those where the last words I heard from her.

_! Nine Years Later !_

I opened my eyes to the bright light of the moon, it looked so close, my body moving through a patch of hard snow. Where am I? Was the first question that popped into my head. _"Where am I? Who am I?"_ I mentally questioned, but I wasn't expecting to get an answer. My body was completely off the ground.

 _Welcome child..._ A voice in my head rang out, it was soothing.

 _Your name is Winter North, Grand Daughter of Nicholas Saint North, you're the Spirit of Christmas Eve, you have the powers of Magic and Ice._

The moon shifted back into its small form and my body was carefully placed on the ground. I looked around, everything was covered in snow. I struggled to get up, finding my footing and making my way over to a tree. When I touched the tree it began to freeze over, so I moved away. Stumbling around like a child just learning how to walk. I needed something to support me.

My eyes scanned the area, I noticed a fallen branch from a pine tree. I lifted my hand up, it felt completely out of reflex. "Branch!" I said, the branch quickly evaporated into a blue type of mist and hovered slowly to me. When it come to my hand it formed back into the branch and landed in my hand. "Walking stick." I commanded, it followed my orders and smoothed down. The end wrapped around my wrist. I began walking, still surprised at what I could do with a simple word.

After about twenty minutes of walking aimlessly through the forest, I came upon a small cemetery behind a large church. I walked through it and noticed a woman, no older than twenty three or twenty four. She had long brown hair with blonde highlights and chocolate brown eyes. I walked up behind her to see her setting a bouquet of flowers onto the grave. She let out a heavy sigh and I looked at who she was visiting.

 _RIP_

 _Hayley Marie Winter_  
 _December 24th 1996 - October 31st 2013_  
 _Beloved Sister, Daughter, Niece and Granddaughter_

 _"I need you to promise me that you'll be both kind and forgiving..."_

"Hello again, Hayley. It's nice to see you." The woman said with a heavy heart.

"I suppose I should catch you up on everything that's happened this year..." The woman looked at her hand and showed it to the tombstone, a beautiful diamond ring was wrapped around her left ring finger. "Dylan proposed August 25th, a few days after-" She stated and unzipped her jacket and pulled up her shirt a little. "-I am pregnant. I hope it's a girl. If it is I'll name her after you."

"Mom and Dad finally moved out of state. Good riddance. I had to learn to take care of myself after you left. I guess it helped in the long run."

"I've held up my promise too. When you told me to always be kind and forgiving, and to never take my life for granted, I've been doing that. I want to thank you again for that day. Halloween, when you pushed me out of the way of the branch. If only we hadn't gone Trick-or-Treating that year... I had to persuade you to go, and I'm sorry. I wish I could go back in time and change that..." She said as tears began to spill from her eyes.

"I'm sorry for your loss..." I told her, trying to place my hand on her shoulder. But it only went through her, my eyes widened as I kept trying to touch her.

"Hayley, If you are here and watching me. I need you to prove it, like right now. Please, I need to know you're still watching me. Just a little sign so I know... Please... Anything, anything at all..." The woman muttered, I got over my shock and watched. Just to see if anything happened.

"Please, Hayley..." She said under her breath.

I walked over to the tombstone and put my hand on it, allowing it to be covered with ice. I traced my hand over the front and put a heart around the quote.

The woman's face brightened a bit. "I knew it... I knew you where still there. I miss you..." She said, moving closer to the grave. I smiled, when she smiled it filled me with warmth. I'm not sure why.

"Kate!" I heard a male voice ring out, I turned my head to see a man standing outside a truck. That must have been her fiance, Dylan, I think it was. The woman didn't pay any attention to her name being called out, she only smiled as she looked at the grave.

"Katelynn!" The man shouted her full name this time. Katelynn shook her head, clearing her mind.

She slowly stood up, turning around toward him. Smiling and she ran to him, jumping in his arms. He looked surprised for a second but hugged her back.

I looked at the grave. The girl buried there must have been very brave.

"You must have been very brave to push your sister out of the way to keep her from dying. Sacrificing yourself for her. I know if I had a sister I'd do the same. I'm not sure if I've ever had a family. I can't remember. But anyway, it's nice to meet you. My name is... Winter North." I turned away from the grave and took a few steps, but then turned back.

"Goodbye, Hayley Winter."

 **)))))!(((((!)))))!((((**

 **So... Yup... I've been needing to get this out of the way, and dude, It's like 4am. I would've made it longer, but I am lazy. I've already started on the next chapter and its almost half way done. In the next chapter the Man in The Moon tells them about her. I think everyone is interested on seeing North's reaction to having a Granddaughter! Anyway... Near the end if you hadn't already noticed, I made it to where it sounded like she renounced her original identity so if you didn't catch that, here ya go! By the way, the rest of the chapters will be written in third person, I just thought it would be more interesting to see her POV for what happened.**

Bonjour my petite crossaints~!

 _Word count: 2,224_


	2. Chapter 2: The Meeting

**Chapter two! Here ya go! I've been trying to plan out what to do in this chapter. North's reaction was the biggest game changer. It took forever to figure out how to describe his reaction, especially when I try to apply his Russian accent.**

 **_! At The Pole: 3 Days Before Christmas !_**

North stood in his workshop, humming a tune. It was so close to Christmas, the Workshop was bustling. He sat in his chair and looked at his matryoshka doll, more commonly known as a Russian Nesting Doll. He took it apart and put it back together. He didn't understand why he'd been so restless the last few days.

There was a loud banging on the door.

"At least they've learned to knock." He muttered, then yelled out for the Yeti to come in. But who entered was not one of his Yeti's.

Bunny stood in the doorway. Tooth stood close behind him and Sandy stood in the background.

"We came as soon as we could, mate." Bunny said walking into the room, North turned and looked out the window. The northern lights had spread quickly, he became confused.

"I didn't do that." He said, his strong Russian accent showing through. His brows furrowed.

"Maybe there is trouble at the globe. Let's go." Tooth said, cutting herself off from talking to her fairies. The large man began walking past them, stopping to wake up Sandy. Then he continued to walk. He maneuvered and pushed around the Yeti's.

He walked through a doorway, he began examining the globe. The other three joined in.

Sandy had found something, he tried to get the others attention but they just continued to look around the globe. He let out a soundless sigh. He formed a bell in his hand using his dust, then ringed it loudly.

Everyone turned to him, finding his annoyed expression.

He pointed at a dot on the globe, it was blue.

"Doesn't that mean...?" Tooth said, flying to the part of the globe, staring at the dot.

"There is new figure." North said, watching the dot. It was moving around quickly. North seen a bright light out of the corner of his eye, then turned to see the large Moon.

"Ah! Man in Moon! It's been a while, old friend!" North said with a small smile.

 _There is someone you should meet. Her name is Winter. Winter North._

Everyone could hear the voice as it rang out, everyone was quiet for a moment, waiting for Manny to speak again.

 _She is the Spirit of Christmas Eve._

The moon shrank down and went back to his normal size, the light dimming.

"We have to find her." Bunny said, then looked at North who still had his eyes glued to the moon. "North?" Bunny asked, waking the large man from his trance.

Jack entered the room.

"What'd I miss?" He asked nonchalantly, sitting on the top of the globe.

"Jack, I need you to find someone." North said confidently.

Jack gave him a blank look, then looked at Sandy who had pointed to something on the globe. It was a small blue dot.

"Okay...? How do I find them?"

"You'll know." Tooth told him, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Do we bring her like you brought me?" He asked, genuinely curious. North shook his head. "Not this one, find her and bring her here. Her name is Winter North. She is the Spirit of Christmas Eve. You must bring her here."

" _North_? As in _you_ North?" Jack asked, holding his staff tightly.

"We not sure yet mate, we just know we've got ta meet the girl." Bunny said, looking at the globe.

"Alright, if you say so. Where is she?" Jack asked more to himself than anyone else, jumping down from the globe, he stared at it intently.

"She's in Burgess. Where Jamie lives." He said, then looked to North.

"Take this, just in case you need to get here quickly." North told him as he tossed a snow globe to Jack, who caught it and only nodded, without another word Jack flew into the air and out a window. He was pretty sure he wouldn't need it so he decided to fly there.

 _She must still be less than 72 hours old... If that is the case, she can be influenced by evil... She could become the next Pitch..._

 ** __! Elsewhere !__**

Winter stood the center of a town, watching children play, well, not children. They seemed to all be about fifteen, maybe younger.

They where throwing snow balls, she smiled. They hadn't seen her, just like everyone else.

"Jamie!" One of the children shouted, a boy with brown hair and dark brown eyes turned to look at a boy with dark skin.

"Think fast!"

A snowball was shot through the air hitting Jamie in the face. "Caleb!" Jamie shouted, shaking the snow away from his face, picking up snow and forming it into a ball and thrust it through the air, Caleb ducked, it kept going and hit a girl on the head.

"Jamie Bennett! No fair! I was on your side!" She screeched at him, he laughed a little.

"Sorry Pippa!" He yelled, the girl shook the snow from her reddish-brown hair and shot him a death glare from her brown eyes. She grabbed a handful of snow and tossed it at Jamie.

"FREE FOR ALL!" Shouted Caleb's twin brother, Claude.

Winter smiled and looked at the wood wrapped around her wrist. It was the branch she had acquired a few hours ago.

She balled a snowball up in her hand and chucked it at a boy with blonde hair and red glasses. The boy stood there blankly for a second, then got a burst of courage and chucked a snowball blindly at someone. It landed on Jamie's knee and caused him to tumble over.

After a few minutes everyone was covered in snow and on the ground laughing. Including a girl they called Cupcake who had joined in later.

Winter smiled and turned away, leaving them together. The sky had begun to darken. There was a sudden cold wind and something dark brushed past her, she immediately jumped away and followed it. She caught sight of its glowing yellow eyes and it was a figure of a horse. Winter followed it, but it disappeared when she found herself over a frozen pond.

Winter shivered at another cold gust of wind.

"So, you must be new?" A voice came, it was cold and unforgiving. Her eyes darted around and finally landed on a tall man with grey skin, golden eyes, and black hair that was pushed back slickly.

The blonde stepped back a little.

"Don't be afraid, I'm not here to hurt you. I'm here to offer you a proposition." He told her, as two fearlings came up beside him.

"Proposition?" Winter asked, calming down a little. She watched a horse that looked as if it was made of black sand come closer to her.

"I'm Pitch Black, let's see what you're made of." Pitch flicked his wrist and a sudden stamped of the fearlings bursted from the shadows, heading right toward Winter.

Winter held up her arms, a bright light shot out, causing the fearlings to be reduced to black sand, the light was followed by ice that froze the sand to the pond. She looked up to see that Pitch had a smirk on his face, then she looked down to see what she'd done. The sand being frozen over was beautiful.

"I want what you want, you know." He said simply, catching her attention. She cocked her head to the left. "And what would that be exactly?" Winter asked.

"To be believed in."

Her eyes widened.

"You can make that happen?" Winter asked him, hoping that someone could one day see her.

"I can, but I will need your help. I want you to become my apprentice. Then, after my- I mean _our_ , plans are complete, we will be seen by everyone." He said, this sparked her interest.  
"I acce-" She began, but there was a large gust of freezing wind. A boy with white hair and ice blue eyes stared at Pitch, he was surprised. But with the same speed he came with, he picked Winter up and left the spot, leaving Pitch on the pond alone.

"What are you doing?!" Winter shrieked, pushing away from him, but he held her tight. She began to punch him, he held her with one arm for a moment and pulled a snow globe from his pocket.  
"North Pole" He said, throwing it into the air. Winter continued to struggle, but then felt the air removed from her body as they where sucked through the portal, it had knocked the wind from her.

Winter found herself tumbling across a carpeted floor. She was woozy but quickly took her footing. She found people staring at her.

Winter blinked at the 'people' she was looking at.

There was a giant rabbit with two boomerangs strapped to his back and had a hold of an egg he was painting.  
A woman covered in feathers flying around the room talking to what looked to be hummingbirds.  
Then there was a small man that was covered in golden sand, sand similar to the type that Pitch had used.  
Then there was a large man in red, he had tattoo's 'Naughty' and 'Nice' and had a long white beard and heavy boots.

They all averted their attention to her.

"Where the hell am I?!" Winter shouted, she was angry and the blood had rushed to her face.

"You're at the North Pole, mate." The Bunny spoke. She looked at all of them bluntly.

"We should probably start with introductions first!" The woman covered with feathers spoke.

"I am E. Aster Bunnymund, the Guardian of Hope. But you can just call me Bunny." The rabbit spoke. "Or Kangaroo." Jack snickered. "Oi! Shove off Frostboy!" Bunny yelled, they began bickering but Winter ignored it.

She looked at the man covered in Sand who had begun to make images above his head, Winter squinted her eyes, not quite understanding what he was doing. Bunny stopped for a moment and began to translate.

"He is saying that his name is Sandman and he is the Guardian of Dreams. But you can call him Sandy for short." Bunny stated, simply.

"My name-" Jack started, Winter gave him a dirty look. He was the one who had kept her from making a deal with Pitch. "-is Jack Frost, the Guardian of Fun. But just call me Jack." Winter rolled her eyes and looked away.

"I am Toothiana. I am the Guardian of Memories. Better known as the Tooth Fairy." Then she flew at Winter and shoved her hands into her mouth. "Wow! They sparkle like magic!"

"Tooth, fingers out of mouth." The large man told her, the Tooth Fairy obliged.

"My name is Nicholas Saint North. I am the Guardian of Wonder. You may call me North."

Winter cocked her head to the right. "The Moon told me about you. He told me I was you Granddaughter." She told him, everyone switched glances and looked back to Winter and North. Without another word he picked her up by her arms and kissed both of her cheeks.

"Vnuchka!" He shouted out, clearly happy. He placed her back on the ground. She clearly didn't have a Russian accent but knew what he said, so she replied.  
"Ded!" A small smile tugged on the edges of her lips. No one knew what they where saying.

Winter turned to everyone, staring at them.

"Why did you bring me here? I met-" She started, only to be interrupted by Jack, much to her displeasure. "Pitch, he's back." Everyone looked at each other, but looked at her, encouraging her to finish the story of her encounter. "Well, anyway, Pitch asked me to join him. To help him with a plan, so that we could both be seen. So I wanted to accept, I was in the middle of accepting when Frozone here-" She thrusted a thumb toward Jack. "-interrupted and brought me here." Her voice had become more annoyed through the story.

"So you caught her in time." Bunny said, turning his head to Jack who had a proud smirk on his face.

"Vnuchka, would you rather be believed in for the good things you do, or would you rather be believed in for all the bad things he makes you do? He wants to bring back the Dark Ages." North spoke, looking at her clearly concerned.

Winter directed her gaze to the floor and heaved out a long sigh. "You know what? It honestly doesn't matter to me. I want to believed in, period. I want to be seen, I don't want to be walked through and feel invisible every day of my life. You wouldn't understand." She stated looked back up at them.

"Jack would." North told her. Winter turned her head to see the boy who had brought her here. "It's true. No one believed in me over three hundred years. Even though I did everything I could. That was, until I met Jamie. The moment he almost stopped believing, I showed him that we do exist. When the snow in his room appeared, he started to believe in me."

Winter looked at him curiously.

"Jamie Bennett?" She asked, Jack stared at her for a moment. "Yes, how do you know him?" Jack asked. "I've seen him around town before, he likes to play in the snow with his friends." She told him, a small smile appearing on her face, remembering how happy they where during the snowball fight.

North put a hand on her shoulder, about to say something but there was a loud ringing sound. Everyone turned to where it originated from, seeing Sandy holding an elf in his hand. He dropped the elf and pointed at the sky light, the Moon was at the center and began to glow brightly. Winter looked around, everyone was staring at it, they'd nod their heads sometimes then the Moon became very bright, centering on Winter.

"What the hell is he doing?!" She shouted, shielding her eyes from the light. After a moment, the Moon's light died down. After a moment she moved her hands away from her eyes and found everyone staring at her with wide eyes. She looked down to find herself in a dark purple dress, a long black cape with a hood strapped around her shoulders. She wore black gloves and had a pair of heeled boots on, her hair had turned black and formed a braid over her shoulder and dark makeup covered her face.

All the Guardians averted their attention back to the Moon, after a moment North began to shake his head.

"No. I will not let you use my Vnuchka as a double agent." He stated, his tone quite fierce. Winter watched as more messages where given. North let out a deep sigh.

"What if she gives in?" Jack asked, staring intently at the Moon.

"Okay, lets do it." Bunny said, looking at everyone. "She'll do great I know it." Everyone besides North nodded, but after a moment he crossed his arms and nodded.

Anger had built up inside her.

"WHAT IS THIS I'M SUPPOSED TO DO?!" She screeched, making Bunny flinch at the loud noise.

"We need you to infiltrate Pitch's lair and gain his trust. Find out his plans." Jack told her, he watched Winter's expression go from angry to confused. "Why?" She asked, her brows furrowed, similar to how her Ded does it.

"Because he's stronger, Manny doesn't think we can beat him this time. Do it for us. Do it for the children." He asked, approaching her.

"Please... If you don't, he'll win and the children will stop believing in us. If they stop believing... We will die." Tooth said, flying over, followed by her small fairies.

"I... I accept."

 **_~_~_~!~_~_~_**

 **Translations:**

 **Vnuchka- Granddaughter**  
 **Ded- Grandfather**

 **So... Yeah. I got kind of confused while writing this chapter. So it's probably not the best in the world. My apology's. But I still hope you'll enjoy it! By the way, if any of you reading this are following my Bulma x Vegeta fanfiction, I'm putting that on hold for the time being. I wish everyone the best of luck while I write the next chapter! Oh, and if you got the Frozone joke I added, here is a cookie *hands cookie*.**

Bonjour my petite crossaints~!

 _Word Count: 2,813_


	3. Chapter 3: Christmas Eve

**Okay! Well, I realize that the last to chapters most likely didn't meet your expectations so I'm going to try to explain things more thoroughly in this chapter, I hope you enjoy!**

 **I own only my OC and nothing else!**

 **(~~)(!)( )(##)**

Winter stared out the window blankly adjusting herself in the chair, she couldn't remember who she was, why she was here, where she came from... She heaved out a large sigh, staring at her reflection of the window. She didn't look like herself, she looked more menacing, more evil. Everything about her just screamed _DARK._ Then again, that's what she was supposed to be, right? The apprentice of The Nightmare King, who represented all things evil towards children.

"You having second thoughts?" A voice came from behind her, she jumped slightly and turned to see Jack leaning on his staff. He had a smirk on his face.

"You have no idea." Winter said, looking away from him. She heard him edge closer, he placed his freezing hand on her shoulder, allowing frost to cover the cape, he pulled away when he noticed it.

"I was the same way. I didn't have any interest in joining these guys, they seemed like the types that bribe kids with candy and toys and money. I didn't want to be apart of that." Jack said, sitting across from her.

"But it's the stereotypical story, 'don't judge a book by it's cover' kind of thing, right?" Winter asked, slumping down in her chair and crossing her arms.

"Actually, no. They where giving out candy and money and toys to get children to believe in them." Jack said with a smirk. "But I found out it wasn't what I thought it was about. It was about making children happy, it didn't benefit them personally at all. They did it to make the children happy, that's why they where made who they are. To bring happiness to the children of the world. Come with me, I've got to show you something." He said, standing up and turning to leave.

Winter hesitated.

"Well?" He asked as he began walking away. She reluctantly followed.

After a few minutes of walking, they arrived in the room she was originally brought to. Winter hadn't been paying attention to her surroundings then, now she noticed a large globe at the center of the room. Sparkling the globe were many yellow dots all around the world. It was beautiful.

"This shows all the children who believe... Who believe in us, who believe... No, _know_ that we protect them." Jack told her, gesturing toward the globe. A small smile passed Winter's lips, but vanished as quickly as it came.

"But none of them believe in me, do they?" She asked, turning her head away from the ball covered in shimmering lights.

"...No, they don't. They don't know who you are, not yet at least. One day they'll know, they know me now. It took over three hundred years but I finally made a name for myself. I'm not an expression anymore, and I definitely _don't_ nip at peoples noses." He smirked.

Winter turned back to the globe, then began thinking. Before she even registered the first thought in her head, she heard the thundering sound of boots.

North walked in, looking at the two.

"Jack, if you will excuse us." North said, Jack threw his staff over his shoulder and waltzed out like the hot-shot he was.

"What do you need Ded?" Winter asked, approaching him.

"I must ask you something, follow me to my office." He told her, turning on his heels and walking away, Winter followed close behind.

They entered the room, a ice train track was placed on a table. North had his back to her, he turned and faced her quickly. "Who are you?" He asked her.

"What...?" She questioned, shaking her head a little.

"WHO ARE YOU, WINTER NORTH?" His voice boomed, it made her take a step back. He approached her, making her lean up against a wall. He prodded his index finger into the center of her chest. "What is your center?" His voice had gone back to being calm.

"What do you mean 'center'?" Winter asked, tilting her head to the side. He walked to his desk and pulled out a set of Russian Nesting Dolls and handed them to her. She looked down at them and back up to him then back down.

Winter looked at him blankly. Then back to the Russian Nesting Dolls.

"This is how to see me, no? Big, intimidating. But when you get to know me." He gestured to the doll, she twisted one of them off and seen him smiling. "You're jolly?" She asked hesitantly. "Yes, but at the same time." He took it from her and opened another, he had a cape over his face.

"Mysterious."

Then another.

"Fearless."

Then another.

"Caring."

Then opened the last one and grabbed her hand, putting a small wooden baby in her hand.

"And at my center..." He said, waiting for her to finish the sentence.

"There is a baby?" She said, staring down at the small piece of wood. "Yes, but what do you notice?" He asked patiently.

"You have big eyes I guess?"

"YES, big eyes, very big! Because they are full of wonder. That is my center." He told her, making his way across the room, thrusting his arms out as if to show her the entire room.

She hadn't noticed before but it was beautiful things moved by themselves and a fireplace roared in the corner. Something flew around the room as he spoke again.

"It is what I was born with, eyes that have only seen the wonder in everything!" He told her.

"Eyes that see lights in the tree's and magic in the air!" He continued, the thing that flew around the room exited the slightly ajar door and went into the workshop. They both followed it out.

"This wonder is what I put into the world, and what I protect in children." North said and turned back to her.

"It is what makes me a guardian. It is my center, what is yours?" He asked her, she was still confused.

"I…. I don't know…" North looked at her and sighed. She seen Bunny approach. "Pitch, he's back at the tooth palace."

"What does he want now?" He asked, his voice was hard. Winter shifted on her feet. "Stay here." He told her, pushing Bunny away. "Why?" She asked, following on his heels. "If Pitch is there, he can't see you with us." He stated, not looking back at her.

"But can I leave with him there, you 'captured' me, remember?" Winter asked. Jack came up and put his arm around her shoulders. "That's not actually a bad idea, we could 'trade' her over for whatever Pitch is trying to take."

Bunny paused, watching North's expression changed. Bunny turned back to she and Jack, who's arm she had shoved off her shoulders. His cold hands caused her to shiver, despite having the same body temperature.

"Well?" She asked, North turned and with a heavy heart, sighed. I small smile made way to her face.

"Alright, it would be as good a time as any for you to go. You'll be at your most powerful in two days."

Winter tilted her head, then turned to Jack as he began to speak.

"On the holiday you represent, you are at your strongest."

She nodded and walked behind North as he walked away toward a door, when he opened it, her mouth gaped in awe.

Reindeer were walking out, kicking around as they pulled a large sleigh. "I'm taking my tunnels." Bunny said, and before anyone could object, he stomped on the ground and a hole appeared, which he jumped into. Everyone else was pulled into the sleigh as it took flight, well... Sort of, they went down a few slopes before bursting into the air.

Needless to say, Winter almost puked.

North threw a snow globe and whispered something she couldn't hear because of the wind rushing past them. A portal opened, she realized it was the one she had gotten here in.

Winter glanced over to Jack, still kind of mad at the manner she was brought in.

They shifted through the portal and out the other end, they came to a large castle, fairies where flying out. Tooth was already there. All the fairies where still there but were flying away in fear. The sleigh approached Tooth, landing on a platform. Everyone landed and Bunny had appeared just as they landed.

They all drew out their weapons.

"Awe, look at the welcoming party." A voice came from the shadows, everyone had formed a circle around her, their backs to her.

It quickly angered her, she didn't need protection. She bent her legs and jumped, not expecting to jump as high as she did but it gave her a good view of everything as she jumped out of the circle, landing on her feet.

"Ah, thank you for letting my little birdie out of her cage." Pitch's voice came, she felt a body against her back then a hand under her chin as it glided her head to the side, making her look at him.

"Winter!" Jack's voice came, she turned her head to them. They where all taken aback by the cold look in her eyes and the smirk that hit her face. She looked truly evil. They weren't sure it was actually a facade like they'd planned.

"Come on, my work here is done. All I came to do was take back what was mine." He purred, grabbing her by her shoulders and they both sank into the shadows. There where now two shadows that moved across the floor then disappeared.

Jack looked at North who was still staring at where they had disappeared.

"North?" Jack asked, breaking his trance.

"What is that wasn't the bravado we planned?" He asked, looking at the group. "What if she really was destined to be evil?" He asked. Everyone looked at each other, no one saying a word. The way she looked, the way she dressed. All of it.

Winter was flying through the shadows, Pitch right next to her. "Wow, this feels so... so..." She said, but she couldn't describe it. "Free." He finished for her. She nodded, a smile gracing her features. She pushed ahead of him, then flew up and appeared in the middle of a street. She heard a quiet crying sound. It was coming from a small apartment building. She looked around for Pitch, he wasn't there.

She walked up to the apartment building and slid through the door that was slightly ajar. There was a mother, then two children. There was a young boy who was crying, the little girl was sniffling.

Winter noticed a small Christmas tree, it was barely able to hold one ornament. "I'm sorry, Lucy, Robert. Please, we cannot afford Christmas this year..." The mother stated calmly. There was a strong wail that emerged from the little girls throat. The mother ushered the crying children from the living room and into their respective rooms. The mother closed their door and sighed. "If only..." She muttered and moved into separate room.

Winter slowly pushed the door open, then moved into the living room. She held up her hand and light exploded from it, the tree shot up in size, stopping at about 6 1/2 feet, ornaments covered the tree, followed by candy canes and lights where strung up around the room, it was illuminating the room in red, green, and blue.

Her eyes looked over the room and she turned back to look at the tree then felt a cold wind.

A cool breath stroked her neck.

"How sweet... But you're on my side. Remember?" He purred. He snapped his fingers and the tree caught fire. The fire didn't spread anywhere else, just the tree.

"Stop!" Winter shouted, the light emerged from her hand once again and the fire evaporated like water, the tree looked as though it was untouched. She spun around to face Pitch. He had a hint of anger in his eyes, but a signature smirk on his face.

"Come now sweetheart, just watch the beauty of the flames." He told her, the tree ignited once more and he restrained her hands and forced her face to look at the burning tree.

"No!" She shouted, struggling to get away from his grip.

She couldn't get out of it, she watched the tree burn into ash. After it was nothing but smoldering embers, he released her.

Winter fell to the ground, her knee's weak as she stared at the ash.

"No..." She said under her breath. Pitch watched, wondering what she would do.

"NO..."

"NO!"

She screeched at the top of her lungs, she slammed her fist to the ground. A shadow appeared on the ground where she had punched and flowed like a stream toward the ash.

The shadow surrounded the ash, Pitch knew what that shadow was. It was her anger, her beautiful, beautiful anger.

It began to take a shape, at first they both thought it was going to be a nightmare which scared her a bit.

But what they got was completely different...

 **~!~!~!#~ ~**

 **Sorry to leave it like this! I am working on two stories at once and it's kind of hard. The next chapter should be out soon! Reviews give me inspiration!**

 _Bonjor my petite crassonts!_

 _Word Count: 2,307_


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